Even relatively minor experience advantages in bare knuckle make such a world of difference and Marisol Ruelas hopes to have that shine through in her sophomore fight in BKFC. Marisol Ruelas embarks on that quest this weekend when she collides with Brooke Evans at BKFC Fight Night: Hammond on October 18th. Ruelas appeared on Bare Knuckle Bowker to cover multiple topics as she is finally in more of a familiar weight class after her BKFC debut was two weight classes higher.
While her opponent Evans is a debutant in gloveless combat, she does have several gloved boxing fights previously and some amateur MMA action as well. When asked for the thoughts on the general resume and skill set of Evans heading into this BKFC fight in Indiana coming up, Ruelas said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
"Yeah, I haven't really paid too much attention to; I didn't know she did MMA, but I did know that she did some boxing fights. I saw maybe like a clip, a small clip of it. I mean, I've said it before, I do feel like the opponents that she has had were lower caliber. I know she is very dedicated. She's in really good shape. She's obviously gonna be faster than Shyanna [Bintliff] but I'm just going to go based off of my experience that like yeah, if you do MMA and if you do boxing, like you have the experience, but it's so different."
"It's so different getting hit with bare knuckles because it's not the same. It's not like when you get hit with a boxing glove, it's like your whole head wobbles. But like you power through, you won't feel it until the next day. Rather, when you get hit with a bare knuckle, like it stings. So, if you're not ready for that sting, you're going to get shocked real quick. So, I hope I can use that to my advantage. I know that I need to move a lot more."
"I know that like it's going to be a very different fight for me, offense and defense. There's no way a '25er moves the same as a '45er. I know she; I mean she seems like she's very dedicated and she's ready for this. She's been prepping for it before. I feel like I think it was she got signed actually before I got signed into bare knuckle because we had the same management that got us in."
"But you know, again, like I'm fresh off a fight and it's like; I don't know. I just feel happy to be in my weight class and if I can do things at '45, I know that at '25 it's a different game for me."
BKFC debut "stung so bad", but Ruelas "didn't have a concussion after this fight" at BKFC Sturgis
Referencing a past Bare Knuckle Bowker interview with BKB champion Khortni Kamyron, the titleholder expressed a similar difference in physical sensations from being struck with a glove which is a dispersed sensation while a bare knuckle strike equates to super localized pain sensations. Responding that point and further delving into her thoughts on this subject, Ruelas quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
"Yeah and you know, like when I did boxing at 145, like I got hit and I didn't feel it in the moment. I was fine. I got up, shook it off. I'm fine. But then for the next two weeks, I had a concussion and I felt terrible. And then this last fight, same weight class, '45, I got hit. I believe this was the punch that I think I ended up having to take a knee for."
"It was right under my eye and in that moment, it stung so bad. Like it's just a weird; like it stings so bad and like maybe 10-15 seconds go by and now you don't feel it. But at this point, the fight's done, you know, and I didn't have a concussion after this fight. But in the moment, it was like you either push through it or it's over."
